Joining. P for Mel. :O Also, I am so rusty it is disgusting.
Tedros was old. God, he was so old. He could feel the ache in his bones, his tired body. The
scents all around him were consuming him with his childhood, and it was almost too much. He sat
outside Inferni territory, and let everything wash back over him. It was so weird, for this place to
smell so familiar, and yet at the same time, be so different. It was Inferni, through and through,
but yet he couldn’t smell his friends, or more importantly, his family.
Not that he really felt entitled to call them that anymore. He hadn’t seen any of them since
he was two years old. Not his beloved sister Nyika, not his father, and certainly not his mother.
Coming back here, he had thought, or maybe hoped, that things hadn’t changed. That he would
come home to Nyika’s laughter, or his father’s smile. But he shouldn’t have been so naive. He
hadn’t stuck around; why would they?
It had been four long years since he left. At the beginning, it was hard not to think about
Atlas. Ted had just left him, just like that, so that he could start a new life, spend time on his own.
Eventually, Tedros found Cain, and the two fell in love instantly, erasing most thoughts of his
former love. He spent three years with Cain and his pack, until last month.
Tedros’ red-hued eyes shut for a moment as he fell back into his (more recent) nostalgia. Cain
had a terminal illness. The apothecary in the tribe tried everything, but it never helped. Ted had
held him through his last few days, until he was gone. And after that, Tedros couldn’t stay there
anymore. It was too hard. And so he left.
But he really didn’t know how he ended up here. What stroke of fate would have led him back
to Inferni again - especially in different lands.